


Cinnamon Sugar

by lj-writes (lunafana)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: And he may come across as slightly jerkish at one point, As is Poe Dameron, Auntie Anne's AU, Black Squadron and the Tico sisters are supporting characters, Don't Like Don't Read, F/F, F/M, Finn's defection is more delayed than in canon, Implicit racism in character reactions & dialogue, Just like in canon, Kylo Ren is an incel who creeps on Rey, MAGA reference, So exercise caution, There are mocking references to a subset of Kylo Ren fans so..., University AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 05:35:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20615828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunafana/pseuds/lj-writes
Summary: Rey, who works at a pretzel stand across from Republic University, falls for star athlete and top student Finn Mando when he buys a pretzel from her. The situation is complicated, however, by corruption and student protests at the University. Please read the tags first.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the [fanmix for Cinnamon Sugar](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/WIPBigBang2019/works/20618981) created by the incredible afteriwake! It's a really different experience to match the tracks to the story :)

When Rey saw him for the first time she was certain it was, in fact, the first, and that in itself made him stand out. Seeing dozens, sometimes over a hundred people in a day as she did through a haze of boredom and exhaustion, they all tended to blur together other than the ones who made themselves memorable for all the wrong reasons. 

But when _he_ stood across the counter and asked for a Cinnamon Sugar and lemonade set, she knew she couldn’t have seen him before. She would have remembered that voice, crisp yet gentle and sweet like breaking through the outer crust of a pretzel and encountering the softness within. She would have remembered his face, with the strong nose and sharp jawline and the smile-crinkled eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. 

“Sure thing,” she said after a beat, as she wondered in a panic how long she had been standing there staring like an idiot. Was he going to think she was weird? But there was nothing but warmth in his eyes—so deep and dark she could drown in them—as he waited for his order. 

“W-what dip,” she managed, the worn and familiar routine from her years working the pretzel stand new to her somehow, like this was her first day and not her seven hundred and eighty-first (she’d counted). 

“Sorry?” His voice was so smooth. She could listen to him read from the pretzel menu all day long. 

“Your order. It comes with a… a dip.” She imagined a speck of cream cheese or caramel on his lip and bit the inside of her own. 

“Hmm.” He tapped the countertop between them with his fingers while she tried very hard not to stare at them and imagine. “Any recommendations?” 

“A sweet glaze, maybe? You seem to have a taste for sweet things.” Rey kicked herself under the counter and threw a glance over her shoulder, half expecting to find Plutt glowering at her back. 

The customer burst out in a full smile, white teeth against dark skin, and Rey braced her knees so she would not fall backward into the fridge. “I do, actually, I do. You have my number there for sure.” 

_You have no idea what I would do for your number._ She broke out in an answering smile that she was sure was overeager and all wrong, and wrestled down the urge to shut down the stall so she could die in peace. “A Cinnamon Sugar and sweet glaze dip with refreshing lemonade, coming right up.” 

She didn’t remember taking his money, cutting up the pretzel for him and picking the right dip from the shelf to stuff in the brown paper bag. The practiced movements went by in a blur and the next thing she knew she was sliding him his paper bag and cup. 

“Here’s your order, sir. Enjoy!” 

He reached out to take them and for a moment their hands brushed, sending thrills up and down her arms. 

“Thanks.” He flashed another smile that made her weak. “I’ll see you around?” 

“For sure,” she said, breathless, a line that would lose her at least an hour of sleep that night berating herself for the awfulness of it. For now she watched him go, rubbernecking out of the stall window as he went across the avenue up to the University gates greeting people every few steps, until the sound of a cleared throat brought her back to reality and the next customer in line.

* * *

After that day she found herself on the lookout for him. Her heart would skip a beat at the sight of glasses, short dreads, or just a beaming smile, only to sink when she realized it wasn’t him but a different customer. 

Maybe it was because she was watching the avenue between her stall and the University’s gates so closely that she noticed the changes. It started small at first, with a short girl wearing her hair in a ponytail handing out flyers before the University gates. 

“Demand the truth on Hux’s corruption! Lower tuitions now!” The girl’s voice drifted to Rey’s stall. “Expanded scholarships for disadvantaged students. Contact the Student Resistance if you want to get involved!” 

_Lower tuitions. Expanded scholarships._ On her break Rey grabbed one of the flyers from the pavement to read. When she had, her sight blurring with tears, she looked up at the gates of the University, awash in sunlight, and the stately facades of its buildings and old forests beyond. 

If this Student Resistance got its way she could actually afford Republic University, a dream she had almost buried under the struggles of everyday life. Her mind went back to her bank account and ran the numbers automatically as it did every day. She could admit to herself, finally, why she refused to splurge on little pleasures even when she had savings: Because a part of her saw herself, ridiculous as it was, a student at Republic University School of Engineering, on her way to building airplanes. Maybe even spaceships. 

Unbidden, her mind snuck in an image of the Cinnamon Sugar guy beside her at school. He was almost certainly a student, probably a well-liked one from how everyone seemed to know him. They could go to class together, take a walk on those forests on campus she saw in the distance under the stately tall trees- 

“Miss? Uh, Miss?” 

Her cotton candy-colored visions dispelled into the face of the next customer in line, and she stammered out an apology before asking for their order. 

In the next few days, she watched from her stall as the Student Resistance’s operations got bigger and bigger. Placards were hung up, though when she came to work in the morning she sometimes found them torn down and defaced and Resistance members putting up new ones. They started holding rallies and sit-downs before the University gates, and Rey found herself murmuring along with their slogans. “Get the truth out! Lower tuitions now! Education for all!” Every time one of those events took place the towers of Republic University seemed closer and closer, and she found her heart warming at the fact that so many students were fighting for her and others like her, whether they realized it or not. 

As the protests got bigger Rey noticed the pushback getting stronger, too. Rey gasped when the girl passing flyers had them knocked out of her hand by a much bigger guy wearing a red baseball cap. She had a hand on the stall door, ready to run out without the faintest idea what she’d do, when two taller girls got between them. Rey breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the door as the Redcap skulked away. 

Later Rey almost squealed with joy to see the girls coming toward her stall. She had her brightest smile ready for them when they made their order of pretzels and lemonade. 

“I just wanted to tell you,” she leaned over the counter, “I think you guys are really brave. I was so scared when that guy got in your face!” 

“Aw, it was nothing.” One of the taller girls, a little darker and with a mole on her cheek, grinned and put an arm around the short girl’s shoulders. “Anyone who messes with Rose messes with me.” 

“I could have taken him, Jess, but you and Pae-Pae had to play the hero.” Rose put an arm around Jess’s waist, and the two kissed while Rey grinned and politely looked away. 

“Knock it off, you two,” said ‘Pae-Pae,’ whose elegant cheekbones and calm gaze belied the undignified nickname. “I don’t need to watch my little sister suck face in public. Gross.” 

“Get your own, spinster.” Rose stuck out her tongue at Pae-Pae, and Rey decided these two had to be sisters. “Karé still married to the white boy?” 

Jess shook her head and took the pretzels and lemonade cups while Pae-Pae chased her little sister toward the University gates. “It’s times like this I’m glad I’m an only child.” 

“I can relate.” Rey smiled at her with a pang; she just wished she were anyone’s child. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks a bunch. You should come to our rallies sometime.” Jess managed to lift a thumb despite the armful of bags and cups she was carrying then went after the sisters, cursing them out for leaving her to carry their snacks. 

Rey saw more of these clashes as time went on, from shouting matches to mutual pushing and even fisticuffs. Campus police showed up, but it always seemed to be the Student Resistance who got pepper-sprayed and arrested. 

“Are you okay out there?” Rey asked Rose and Jess one evening when they came around for a snack and stayed to chat during a slow spell. Their full names, she had learned, were Rose Tico and Jessika Pava, while Rose’s gorgeous older sister was Paige. “Things seem to be getting a little rough.” 

“And campus police is about as helpful as a boil on the ass.” Jess put her lemonade cup to a shiner on her cheek. “It can’t be helped, everyone knows Phasma and her goons are in Hux’s pocket.” 

“His name seems to come up a lot.” Rey remembered the fliers and the protest slogans. 

“He’s the head of the school’s Board of Directors.” Rose slurped angrily at her lemonade. 

“And a complete scumbag,” added Jess. 

“So the Chancellor was going to make a fund to lower student tuition and expand education opportunities, right? Expand education to everyone. Well that money’s gone.” Rose took a bite out of her pretzel. 

“Gone?” Rey’s heart sank. 

“Everything points to Hux, but he’s covered his tracks and is using the goons from his frat house and the Huxters to shut people down.” 

Rey giggled at the word. “The what?” 

“They don’t call themselves that of course, but-“ 

Next to her Jess’s eyes widened and she raised her voice, cutting Rose off. “Sorry dude, didn’t see you there. Pretzels are right here, dig in.” She grabbed Rose’s arm to pull her away. 

The blood rushed to Rey’s face when she turned to see who had been waiting while she was chatting with her friends. 

“Cinnamon Sugar?” she blurted out. 

He blinked, then gave a smile that brightened his entire face and her heart. “You read my mind.” 

“So sorry to keep you waiting.” She scrambled to grab pretzels, dip, and lemonade. “I remember your order, I can get you the same one if you like.” She turned away before she grimaced at herself. Why did she just admit she remembered all that? 

“Impressive memory! Same as last time sounds great.” He sounded like he meant it, too. “And it was no problem waiting, it was good to see you have a nice time.” 

Her stomach gained the consistency of Jell-O while her chest warmed by about three degrees. He was so nice. 

She glanced in Rose and Jess’s direction only to see them slinking away, making themselves as small as possible. They had started acting weird as soon as he had appeared, Rey thought as she filled the lemonade cup. What was going on? 

“Rose! Jess!” Her friends flinched at the call of a male voice. “Have you guys seen Paige? I don’t think we have enough water for the daytime rally-“ 

Rey recognized the man coming up to the pretzel stand. Besides his eye-catching looks with curly dark hair tousled over perpetually smiling brown eyes, he stood out because he always had his dog with him. There was the dog again, following on his heels with her pert little head and tail held high. 

“Uh… Poe! No we haven’t seen her.” Rose shrank away farther, eyeing the guy still waiting for his pretzel. 

“Here you go, sir.” Rey hurried to hand him his paper bag and cup, uncomfortable at how Rose and Jess were treating him. 

“Thank you.” His smile set her stomach fluttering, but there was a shadowed look in his eyes that told her he knew how he was being viewed. He turned around in time to run into Poe with the dog. 

“Finn? Finn Mando, right?” Poe clapped him on an arm. 

The dog gave a happy bark and trotted past her human to sit in front of Finn (_Finn,_ she thought, a name made out of pure joy), waving her tail. 

“BeeBee!” Finn crouched down to give the dog a scratch between the ears, sending her tail wagging faster and leaving Rey envious of a dog. 

“Professor Dameron.” Finn stood to greet the older man. “I didn’t think you’d remember me.” 

“I told you to call me Poe, buddy! You were the best student in my Introduction to Political Economy course last year, maybe ever, of course I remember you. If you want to take advanced classes you know I’ll be waiting, heck, you have so much to offer Latin America Studies if you see yourself going to grad school!” 

“That’s really kind of you.” Rey sensed unease in the tense way Finn held himself. “Armitage didn’t feel political economy was an appropriate area of study for me, though. He called it ‘socialism in the classroom.’” 

“I’m sure he said it like that’s a bad thing.” Poe’s mouth smiled, but his eyes did not. 

“Mando! There you are.” Rey’s insides went cold at the voice. “You’re late for the meeting.” 

Rey’s instinct was to duck behind the counter, but she was on the clock without Kaydel there to take over, and anyway he had already seen her. The tall man in a black trench coat, his hair fluffing above the pointy triangle of his face, loomed at least a head above both Poe and Finn. It was his one virtue, as far as she was concerned, that she could see him coming from a long way off. That wasn’t true today, though, because she had been too caught up in watching Finn—_Finn,_ she repeated in her mind, such a simple but beautiful name. 

“Pretzel girl. Rey, correct?” He looked down at her over a shoulder, his trench coat flaring, in a pose that she thought he must have practiced in a mirror. “I am called to matters that demand my attention and will not require your services at present.” 

He tossed his head, sending his hair tumbling. A few women who always seemed to hover in his periphery sighed out loud. “I see you have dressed for me, nevertheless.” 

_It’s literally my uniform, but whatever._ “Could you move over if you aren’t buying, please?” 

In fact a space had cleared around him other than Finn, whose shoulder the trench coat man held in a grip that she longed to smack away, and Poe, whose usual smile had faded to a neutral look. Rey didn’t blame people for steering clear of this man who had introduced himself by the obviously fake name of Kylo Ren, not after the way he had destroyed her pretzel stand in a rage after the fifth or sixth time she had turned down his “generous offer” for a date. His ridiculousness took nothing away from the danger he posed, and she noticed even his groupies hung at the edges of the circle and came no closer. 

Her memory of that incident still fresh, she flinched when he sauntered over to place a hand on her counter and lean in. She leaned away as far as she could without stepping away, wondering which Axe Body Spray factory he had bought out. 

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,” he stage-whispered to a background chorus of the fangirls’ gasps. 

He strode back to Finn without looking at Poe, trench coat sweeping behind him, and slung a hand over Finn’s shoulder before he walked away. 

“Good luck with the Tatooine match, Finn,” Poe called after him; Finn looked back and raised a hand without answering, and the fear in his eyes squeezed at Rey’s heart. 

“The rowing team captain of Republic University shouldn’t be eating this crap.” Trench coat man pulled the paper bag out of Finn’s hand and threw it by the side of the road. “Now waffles, that’s the breakfast of champions!” 

“Hey Poe, I’ve been looking for you. I wanted to talk supplies-“ Paige came running up, and paused at the sight of the trench coated figure disappearing into the distance. “Is everyone okay? Any property damage? Bodies?” 

“Not this time,” Rey sighed. “What is going on here?” 

“We have to go, but if you want to talk more you can stop by our nighttime rally.” Rose glanced over at the people walking over to the pretzel stand. “I’ll let you get back to it.” 

“Keep your eyes peeled and carry mace.” Jess tapped her countertop with sympathy as she passed. 

Paige and Poe, already deep in conversation, waved to her as they walked away, BeeBee snug in the crook of Poe’s elbow. Rey’s gaze fell on the paper bag at the side of the road and she sighed again before she turned to the customer before her with a practiced smile. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey comes to nighttime rallies and makes friends. Finn comes to a rally and does not.

Tents started going up in front of the University gates around sunset, and she watched students gathered around camping lights in groups, talking and laughing. She hesitated as she handed off to Kaydel at the end of her shift, then picked up a bag of leftover pretzels. She knew she was supposed to throw them out, but what Unkar didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. 

She walked into the camp, self-conscious and clutching her bag. She looked around for her friends, but the play of light and dark confused her sight. 

“Aren’t you the pretzel girl?” A striking woman with spiked yellow hair and ochre skin looked up at her from one of the circles of light, a big doughy guy next to her. 

“I’m Rey. Uh… I know it’s not much, but if you want any?” She held them out, feeling self-conscious. “They’re just leftovers, sorry, but…” 

“Hey! It’s good to see you.” Rey turned in time to see Jess stride over. 

“Yeah, um… just wanted to say hi. Want a pretzel?” 

“You bet your butt I do!” 

The woman with spiky hair shook her head at the sight of Jess digging in before she turned to Rey. “Karé Kun. Me and Snap eat at your stand all the time.” Rey took her offered hand and desperately refrained from looking around for Paige. 

They invited her to sit with them, and she tried to say no but found herself seated with a paper plate and plastic fork. She passed on the pretzels but there were also noodles in a steaming paper cup, fried chicken, pancakes, and fruits. She was fuller than she could remember being in a while and found herself laughing along with bad puns and half-baked Marxist theory. 

“Heyyyy, you came!” Rose squeezed into the circle next to Jess, and they leaned into each other for warmth. “Welcome to the Student Resistance!” 

“Well, I’m not an actual student.” Rey’s face warmed despite the cold air. 

“We won’t be students much longer, either, unless things change.” Rose wrapped her hands around a cup of coffee Snap handed her. “Me and Paige were cutting it close even with our scholarships, and once that runs out…” 

“Look on the bright side.” Jess put an arm around her shoulders. “At least Hux gets to enjoy his new Maserati.” 

“You said he had… goons to shut you guys down?” Rey looked around as though every shadow might be hiding one of the redcaps. “Will you be safe here?” 

“We’re taking turns patrolling the perimeters and if anyone crosses Paige they are dead.” Jess put a finger across her throat. “Or if they date her little sister.” 

“Oh quit whining, she was just training you.” Rose elbowed her. 

“I’ll stop, woman, when I get some feeling back in my right arm.” 

“Undergrads.” Karé rolled her eyes and sipped her own coffee. 

“These goyishe frat boys can’t land a punch worth a shit anyway.” Snap grinned. “I’ll protect you from them, m’lady.” 

That got a chuckle out of her. “Shut up, you goof.” 

“It’s why you love me.” 

“Is that Hux’s fraternity you were talking about?” asked Rey. 

“Oh yeah, Phi Alpha Omega,” said Rose. “It’s Benny Boy’s old frat, too, and they’re trouble.” 

At Rey’s puzzled look Snap supplied, “I think he goes around calling himself, like, Kyle Ron?” 

Rey giggled even as the night seemed to grow colder at the reminder of him. “I like that one better.” 

Rose turned to Rey. “Bad news for you but it’s Dreamboat’s frat, too.” 

“I’m- I’m not sure what you-“ even as she said it Rey had the sense she knew exactly what, and who, Rose was talking about. 

“Oh come on.” Karé threw her hands up. “‘Dreamboat’ is a terrible nickname. Just because he rows-“ 

“It’s brilliant, admit it!” Rose raised a plastic fork. “I will fight for the honor of that nickname.” 

“I don’t understand.” Rey twisted the edge of her sweater in her fingers, fighting back tears. “How could he be with them?” 

“For what it’s worth, it probably wasn’t much of a choice.” Jess sighed and reached across to pat Rey’s knee. “He’s a Huxter—I mean, Hopester I think they call them?” 

“One of the kids fostered by the Brendol Hux Foundation for Hope.” Karé stared down at into her coffee cup. “It’s how these kids can afford Republic University.” 

“So Brendol Hux is…“ 

“The current Hux’s late unmourned dad who died under mysterious circumstances.” Snap shrugged. 

“Is Director Hux's name Armitage Hux?” Rey asked. 

“Uh-huh,” said Rose. 

Rey let out a breath. A lot of things made more sense, the way the trench coat man treated Finn, the control Hux had over him. 

“I know we looked like assholes back there, the way we avoided him,” said Jess. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy, and he hasn’t been showing up to the rallies with his hat-wearing friends. But as long as he’s with them they _are_ his friends and…” she let out a grunt. “I don’t know. It’s shitty.” 

That was something they could agree on. A silence fell over their little group when a new voice broke in. 

“Started the party without us? There’s a special guest here, folks, who wants to talk to you.” 

Rey turned at Poe’s voice when her eyes fell on the figure standing behind him, a petite elderly woman with her hair done up and unyielding strength in her forthright gaze and bearing. The woman was holding BeeBee in her arms, stroking the dog before she set her down, freeing the dog to go around the camp getting pats and snacks. 

“Crap, that’s the Big O herself!” Jess whispered. 

Rose hit her arm. “She’ll hear you!” 

“Chancellor Organa.” Karé stood up with Snap. “It’s great to see you here.” 

“There’s no need to be so formal, Karé.” Leia Organa came over to hold her hands before she turned to Snap. “And you, Wexley? How is your thesis going?” 

After speaking to Jess and Rose Chancellor Organa turned to Rey, a question in her eyes. 

“I’m- I’m not actually a student here-“ Rey began. 

“Do you want to be?” The Chancellor’s gaze seemed to go right through her, but in a way that made her feel safe and seen. 

“Yes.” Rey swallowed. “Very much.” 

Chancellor Organa reached out with her arms and Rey leaned into the embrace, and held tight to the warmth and strength of this remarkable woman. 

The Chancellor went around the camp, greeting students by name before she faced them all before the gates of the University, her dark-clad form framed by its arches. 

“I know having me here doesn’t exactly make you comfortable so I’ll keep it brief,” she said, to scattered laughter from the students. “I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you all, to have the courage of your convictions and fight for what’s right. I promise you I’ll do everything I can to make sure your voice is heard. Remember to have fun, too—as Emma Goldman is supposed to have said, ‘if I can’t dance it’s not my revolution!’” 

Chancellor Organa walked back into the school, talking to Poe who walked by her side. Rey smiled to watch her go, still feeling the warmth of their embrace, and relaxed into laughter and conversation with her friends. 

* * *

Going over to the Student Resistance rallies after work became a routine, the part of her day she came to look forward to the most. A few days in Rey was laughing and talking over cup noodles with her usual group of Jess, the Tico sisters, and Snap and Karé when she looked up from a ripple of hushed voices from the edge of the camp. Even in the dark shot through with camping lights and the occasional fire she recognized at once the figure walking into the camp, the way his skin held the light in a warm glow, the way he held his shoulders back and head high, confident and almost arrogant, but no threat to anyone unless they threatened him first. 

“Look who’s here.” Karé sounded amused. “It’s Boat Boy.” 

Next to her, Snap got up and made his way over to Finn, putting his bulk between Finn and their little group. “Can I help you?” 

“Listen, who’s in charge here? I need to talk to them. Is it Poe Dameron?” Finn’s voice was low, tense. Rey realized she could only hear him because she was straining to hear, and so was everyone else around her; the protestors had fallen silent, and some were even physically leaning toward Finn and Snap. Karé got up, dusting off the seat of her pants, and strode to her husband’s side. 

“No, it’s not Poe Dameron.” Rey startled to at the voice of Poe himself, ambling up with BeeBee at his heels. “You were great at the match, by the way. Really showed Tattooine U who’s boss.” 

“Dameron!” Snap hissed at him, and Poe looked at him with spread hands. 

“What? I like rowing.” 

“Thanks, man.” Finn patted BeeBee, who thrust her nose into his hand and wagged her tail before returning to Poe’s feet. “So if it’s not you who’s the leader…” 

“The Student Resistance doesn’t have a leader.” Karé linked her arm through her husband’s as couples do but also, Rey thought, as though forming the beginning of a human chain. “We decide and speak communally.” 

“Efficient,” Finn muttered, and Rey could see the Tico sisters bristle next to her. “Then I need you to decide communally to disband the protest.” 

Snap took a step toward Finn, but Karé held him back and fixed Finn with a level gaze. “I don’t think you’re in a position to tell us what to do.” 

Paige got up to get behind Karé and Snap, gesturing at Rose and Jess to stay where they were. Rey got up to follow Paige, not quite admitting to herself that it was Finn she was drawn to in spite of everything. 

“Trust me, it’s your safety I’m thinking of,” he was saying as she approached, and was it her imagination or did his gaze flicker to her for a split second? Her heart beat faster as she came to a stop behind Karé and Snap. “They’re not going to let this protest stand. You’re riling up every other group in the city, the unions, the activists, and-“ 

“It sounds to me like you want us to disperse just as we’re gaining traction, buddy.” Poe sounded serious this time. “You know we won’t do that.” 

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Finn raised his hands to his sides and dropped them, helpless. 

“Especially your little frat friends, I’ll bet.” Karé’s voice was tight. “You want to get rid of us without their even getting any dirt on their hands. Man, don’t you have any shame-“ 

Anger flashed in Finn’s eyes for the first time. “Don’t you tell me tell me what to do, you don’t know my life-“ 

“I think you should leave,” said Snap. More people had gathered around him by this point, unfriendly gazes fixed on Finn. 

“All right, I’ll go.” Finn shook his head and, with a glare at Karé, turned around. Again, Rey’s heart gave a little hiccup as she thought his eyes fell on before he went—yes, it was impossible, there were so many bigger things going on and she was being silly, but she held onto that little self-deception like the doll she had made herself when she was nine. 

Snap watched him go before he turned to Poe. “What do you think?” 

“I think it’s nothing we didn’t know before.” Poe leaned down to scratch BeeBee’s ears. “At least it’s good to have confirmation we’re getting somewhere—enough to scare Hux and the Board.” 

“Rowing Man might have a point, though,” said Karé, and added at the looks she got: “I’m not saying we should stop, but these nighttime camps are a safety risk. It gives them an excuse to say we’re unruly, makes it easier for them to surround us, there are fewer witnesses…” 

“I don’t think we could enforce it even if we told people not to show up,” said Poe. “We could warn people about the danger and set up a watch, but that’s about it.” 

“And bring weapons,” said Rose, who had come up behind with Jess. 

“Hey, I think there’s a one per family limit?” Paige laughed. “I’m the eldest so I get dibs!” 

“Oh, please. At your age? Your skull’s gonna crack like an eggshell the moment a police baton touches it.” 

While the others laughed, Jess came up to Rey. “I think maybe you should be careful about coming around, too. We don’t want you to get caught up in anything.” 

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” said Rey, touched at being remembered in the midst of everything that was going on. She looked around at the Student Resistance, laughing and joshing and brainstorming and planning. 

Well, there couldn’t be much harm in bringing them pretzels. It was what she could do, after all. She was the pretzel girl, right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux makes a speech. All hell breaks loose. Be warned this chapter is very violent and includes animal cruelty.

Rey didn’t know why she kept waiting for Finn to come to the pretzel stand. Between the trench coat creep getting on his case and what happened with the Student Resistance, she shouldn’t expect to see him again. 

Why did the thought make her want to cry, though? She had a life, friends, and now a goal. Just because he was the cutest guy she had ever seen didn’t mean she couldn’t live without him, and at any rate he probably didn’t know she existed. She was being silly and a cliché. 

Yet something about the way he had gone away, facing a crowd he must have known would be hostile to him, stuck with her and she found it hard to put him from her mind. 

It was all the harder to forget when she could see the changes to the protests and the camps across the way, knowing they were occasioned by Finn’s warning. She watched as Student Resistance members patrolled the perimeter in twos and threes, including her friends who would wave as they walked by. There were fewer people at night but the campers were no less active, and she brought them leftovers at the end of the day. 

Two days after Finn’s visit to the camp, she noticed more redcaps than usual around campus but otherwise things were even quieter if anything, other than a screen being put up in the square inside the gates. Toward late afternoon in the first hint of dusk the screen flickered on, and a pale man whose face suggested he had a constant case of indigestion filled the screen. Even before he identified himself Rey realized this must be Armitage Hux on the Board of Directors that she had heard so much about, and unease stirred her stomach. 

“For weeks,” he began, “we have watched chaos grow on campus. Republic University, once a serene and beautiful garden of learning, has been overrun by a dangerous cadre who sow discord and violence. We have watched in fear as the disorder metastasized and spread to the greater community, hoping students would react to our pleas and return to their classrooms.” 

From her vantage point to the right of the University gates she could see the Student Resistance campers watching the speech, their forms dark outlines against the screen in the encroaching dusk. Were Jess and Karé and the rest among them? _Run,_ she wanted to tell them, but she didn’t know from what. 

“Yet these _protesters,_” Hux spat out the word like it was a vile insult, “these parasites who demand a free ride on others’ endeavors, only grew more strident in their unreasonable demands and escalated their actions. Their only goal is the destruction of all that we at the University have worked so hard to build over generations, and not the peace or betterment of our community.” 

He paused and went on: “We have hoped. We have reasoned. We waited and trusted they would respond to our good faith. No more.” 

Rey gulped. She had the childish urge to duck behind the counter, as though the man could turn his baleful gaze on her through the screen. 

“The Board has decided this state of affairs can no longer stand. Our beloved school must return to normalcy for all our sakes. Today, we officially announce Chancellor Organa’s removal from her position for her failure to resolve the continuing strife at the school. And the disorder on campus ends—now!” 

Rey startled at the high and scratchy shout and looked wildly around. Shadowy figures capped with red were moving in the evening light around her, but not toward her; they were walking, then running through the university gates toward the knot of protestors. 

“The head of campus police, Captain Phasma, has been empowered to do what Doctor Organa held her back from. The rabble who have parked their filthy camp outside the University gates will be removed immediately, and all campus protests are banned until further notice.” 

More shadows appeared against the screen as the members of the Student Resistance stood up, surrounded by the red-topped figures that appeared outside the their circle of camping lights. Rey recognized the outlines of helmets and shields. How did campus police even get riot gear? 

“Let it be known that Republic University is a strong community, a proud community, and the infestation of termites who eat at its base will be repelled. Let today be known as the last day of the Student Resistance!” 

The police rushed the protesters while the redcaps behind them let out a full-throated roar. The screen turned off, leaving the square in darkness. 

Her heart racing in terror now, Rey grabbed her bag and stumbled out of the stall. She started running toward the gates before she remembered to turn back and shutter and locked the stand. Unkar could fire her all he liked for closing early, in fact she found herself hoping he would. 

Students were running in the opposite direction as she ran toward the gates. “Have you seen Professor Dameron? With the dog?” she asked them, her throat clogging with all the names she wanted to ask about _Jess Rose Paige Karé Snap oh no no_ but figuring Poe was the most visible. Students passed her by without answering, too caught up in their own need to get away, while others pointed toward the square and hurried on their way. 

She ran past red hats, ignoring their curious glances and occasional catcalls, and came upon a wall of human backs, redcaps cheering like they were at a rave. She skirted around them to climb a few of the stairs leading up to a building, where she could see over their heads. 

Her friends were surrounded, just as she feared. They were facing off against dozens of police in riot gear—did campus police even have that many people?—and she spotted Poe at the front of the protesters with BeeBee’s hackles up and growling next to him, Paige standing in front of Jess and Rose who clung to each other, and Karé and Snap side by side. 

“This is ridiculous, Captain.” Poe raised his hands in a placating gesture at the tall figure at the head of the police phalanx. “These are students, our students. Let them leave in peace.” 

“Unacceptable, Dameron,” said the woman who must be Captain Phasma, helmet gleaming in the firelight and a police baton in one hand. “These protestors have ignored orders to disperse before.” 

“That’s Professor Dameron to you.” Rose took a step forward; Jess pulled her back and Paige got in front of her as if to shield her from view. 

“I prefer Poe, actually.” Poe raised a warning hand without looking back at her. “Come on, Phasma. What’s with the shields and the crowd with questionable taste in hats, huh? This isn’t resolving the situation, it’s escalating it.” 

“There will be no escalation as long as you come with us peacefully.” Phasma waved two of her campus police toward the protesters. 

“_Jess!_” Rose screamed, tearing Rey’s gaze from the police to Rose and Jess, where one of the redcaps had gotten a hold of Jess’s ponytail and was pulling her by it, taunting her. Rose, terrified, yanked at her girlfriend’s arm while Jess swiped for her assailant, screaming curses. 

Paige ran toward them and, in one smooth motion, roundhouse kicked Jess’s assailant in the face, flinging him backward to lie on the pavement, clutching his face. 

“This protest has turned violent,” Phasma announced. “Arrest them.” 

“No, that’s too good for them. We’ll take care of this.” 

Rey flinched at the nasal, slightly hoarse voice that slithered coldly along her spine. Trench coat man stepped forward into the light, his coat swirling in the night air around him and—was that a katana in his hands? Really? 

Without thinking about it Rey searched the crowd of redcaps around him for Finn, hoping he was far away and anywhere but here. If he was here there were too many people to see him or he was keeping to the back. For that at least she could be thankful. 

Poe’s eyes widened as the redcaps advanced. Some of the police started moving as though to intervene, but Phasma waved them back. 

Poe crouched down, and when he stood up again there was a baseball bat in his hand. Before anyone could react he was charging the surrounding wall of redcaps and had driven them backward by sheer surprise, swinging the bat with such ferocity that Rey winced to look at him. Latin American Studies were a lot more interesting than she thought if that was what they taught there. 

“Go!” Poe screamed at the students. “This is the one time you don’t get to argue with me. Run!” 

“Hey, you’re not hounding all the glory.” Snap was right next to him, a lit camping lamp in his hand and swinging it at the redcaps who dared get close to the fleeing students. “Karé! Go.” 

Karé turned to him, her fists balled for a fight. “Snap-“ 

“I need you to be away from here, for my sake. Please?” 

Karé paused before she turned to the others. “Move it!” She led more of the students, Jess and the Tico sisters among them, across the square and toward the University gates. 

People fell away both from Poe’s baseball bat and from BeeBee, who was at his side snarling and snapping at the redcaps. Then Rey saw a swirl of black by his side and, before she could shout a warning, Kylo Ren drew his sword and swung at Poe. 

Poe avoided the blow, but just barely. He rushed Kylo only for the taller man to sidestep and slam the hilt of his sword into Poe’s face. While Poe stumbled, trying to get his bearings, Kylo kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to his knees. 

“Poe!” Snap fought his way toward his friend, but was overwhelmed and held down by the redcaps. 

Kylo approached Poe step by menacing step; BeeBee stepped between him and her human, growling. 

“BeeBee, no.” Poe wiped blood from his mouth and tried to stand. “Get away.” 

Kylo took another step, the steel toes of his boots gleaming in the faint light, and BeeBee charged. Her yelp of pain cut across the night as the katana-wielding man kicked her out of the air, and she lay trembling yards away in a slumped mass. Rey would have screamed, too, if her own hand had not been clapped over her mouth without her knowing it. 

“He’s so brutal,” someone sighed off to her left, and Rey turned her head at the completely incongruous tone. Two girls about her age, one wearing a red hat and the other with a hat close to hand, were sitting on the stairs, filming video of the scene taking place below and giggling to each other. 

“Look at how tortured he is, that’s why he’s so cruel,” said the first girl’s friend. “I just want to hold him in my arms.” 

Rey’s first instinct was to throw up, preferably into the girls’ long hair. 

Her second thought was: _They have video._

It did not take her long to approach the women and ingratiate her way into their good graces, sighing about how tormented and dreamy Ben was. She claimed to be a fan who had come to see him in action, then talked them into sending her the video. 

“For private viewing only, of course.” Rey winked, hoping the darkness would hide the tears in her eyes. 

She kept one eye on the square below where Poe was forced to kneel before Kylo’s feet and was talking to him. BeeBee lay nearby, and did her tail just twitch? _Stay down, BeeBee,_ she pleaded as the video transferred. _I’ll come get you._

Below, whatever conversation they were having apparently finished, Kylo turned away from Poe and two of the redcaps dragged him before Phasma along with Snap. 

“Book them.” Phasma turned to Kylo without even looking at the prisoners, who were roughly patted down and cuffed. “The rest got away, but our jurisdiction is limited to University grounds.” 

“Not ours.” Kylo shouldered his katana and turned away with a sweep of his trench coat that made the girls next to Rey groan. 

Poe and Snap were taken to a squad car and driven away to the jeers of the redcaps. Once the car’s headlights faded away the mob milled around, looking bored, while a knot of them gathered around Kylo no doubt brainstorming how to hunt down Rey’s friends. She focused on the tiny figure of BeeBee, who she feared might be stepped on in the confusion. But there, unmistakeable, was the twitch of a fuzzy orange ear. 

She looked over at the girls, whose names she had learned were Karen and Susan, and noticed Karen’s hat still lay on a stair by her hand while the two giggled and snapped pictures of Kylo Ren. Rey reached out and took the unattended hat, then walked away with it as casually as though it were hers. As she approached the crowd she pressed the hat onto her head, low over her eyes. No one gave her a second look as she plunged in and walked through them until she reached BeeBee and picked up the dog’s limp form to cradle in her arms. 

“You’re fine,” she whispered into the fur on BeeBee’s head as she walked away, trying to look casual which wasn’t easy when she was on the edge of sobbing. She was so useless, watching her friends being brutalized and forced to run for their safety like she was a picture on the wall. Why had she even come here, anyway? What could a pretzel girl hope to do against a mob? 

She could do this much, though. She could rescue a dog who had been hurt trying to save her human, and could take care of her until the two reunited. 

An ominous feeling came over her and she looked over a shoulder to meet Kylo Ren’s eyes, staring at her as though he were hungry. She froze, clutching BeeBee close and tensed to run if she had to. 

He looked away, and no cry was raised. 

She kept on walking, careful not to hurry too much. She was breathless by the time she reached the gate and passed through, out in the darkness of the streets. BeeBee stirred in her arms. 

She quickened her steps, careful not to jostle BeeBee, and once she was far enough away from the University and no one was around she whipped the hat off her head. She was about to throw it to the ground before she rethought it and stuffed it in her bag instead. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Rey both make a choice. There's a reference to drug use and dealing in this chapter, what did you expect with Han Solo involved?

She walked along the darkened streets away from the University gates, wondering where to go. The pretzel stall was too close to the school, and at any rate BeeBee needed care. Should she find a vet and leave BeeBee with them? 

“Rey!” A hissed call came from an alley to one side, and Rey was on her guard before she recognized the voice and the face that peered out of the shadows. 

“Rose.” She hurried over, checking her surroundings for anyone watching. 

In the darkness of the alley, among piled boxes and trash bags, Rose pulled her into a hug and Rey leaned into her even though she could not let go of BeeBee to hug back. Her eyes pricked with tears at the warmth and feel of her friend who was, against all odds, safe and alive for the moment. 

“Oh no—BeeBee!” Rose let go and peered down at the fuzzy ball of warmth in Rey’s arms. “What happened?” 

“Kyle Ron happened.” The anger flared hot in Rey’s stomach and seared her throat. “She was trying to protect Poe and—I’m sorry. Snap and Poe were arrested, and there was nothing I could do.” 

“There was nothing any of us could do.” Paige came out of the shadows behind Rose and put an arm around her. “At least now we know what happened.” 

“You were waiting for them?” Rey looked around for Karé and saw her leaning against a closed door, looking down without expression at the ground. 

“That, and scoping out the area looking for escape routes.” Jess gave Karé a squeeze on the arm. “It’s not good. We can’t go back to campus for our cars, and they’ve got the subway station and exits to the big roads scoped out.” 

Rey’s heart sank. “There’s no way out, then?” 

“We did call a friend with a car,” said Karé. “He and his friend won’t be turned away by hat-wearing goons like some cabbie or Supers driver.” 

“Assuming that rust bucket doesn’t die on us first.” Jess crossed her arms. 

“He’s always come through for me!” Rose chirped. 

“With your weed, you mean.” Paige made a disgusted noise. “That car stinks of it.” 

They all froze at the sound of shattering glass; the Tico sisters drew closer to each other and Rey, while Karé and Jess each ran to an end of the alley to look. 

“They’re coming up from University Gate,” Karé announced, her voice tense. She looked in the other direction. “And from the subway station, too!” 

“Same on this side,” said Jess. 

“In here.” Paige opened the door Karé had been leaning against and shoved in Rose, then Rey. Jess and Karé followed. Rey saw the construction materials and near-empty shelves in the faint light from the alley before the door closed behind her. 

“Good thing we checked this alley out first for open doors.” Karé’s whisper came from just inside the door. 

“We’re trapped if they find us here, though.” Paige’s voice came from next to where Karé’s had. 

“We might be able to fight our way out if we surprise them enough. Be ready.” From Karé’s resolute tone Rey knew she was thinking of Snap. 

“I saw some construction materials there, across from the door.” Rey pointed with her chin though she wasn’t sure they could see her, shifting BeeBee in her arms for a more comfortable position. The dog was stirring more than before, and Rey kissed the top of the fuzzy head hoping to calm her. 

As her eyes adjusted to the light she saw Jess and Rose make their way in the indicated direction and bring back sticks of wood and… was that a hammer? She whispered her thanks as Rose looped the hammer through her belt for her, and silently thanked the person on the working crew who had left it behind. 

“I hope you took Latin America Studies,” she said as she watched the others arm themselves with the sticks. 

“What?” asked Rose. 

“Quiet!” hissed Jess. 

They waited, hardly breathing, while the redcaps made their way down the streets, trying doors and breaking the occasional window or beer bottle. 

“Yeah I’ll check this alley, don’t worry.” 

Rey’s heart slammed against her chest at the voice she had hoped not to hear on this ugly night. The hammer was heavy on her belt, dragging her down; could she fight him if it came to it? She heard Karé swear softly in the dark, while Paige shifted to place herself between the door and her sister. 

In the dead silence of the abandoned shop they listened to Finn’s sure and steady footfalls coming down the alley. Each time he stopped a door rattled as he tried it. He came closer and closer to their door, and with her breath held Rey heard his hand brush the doorjamb. Her eyes squeezed shut and a tear leaked out. 

Then he passed by, so naturally it seemed like there were no door at all. 

Instead they heard him rattle and then pound on the next door down the alley, even kicking it for good measure. 

“Everything’s locked and barred here,” he called, his voice no longer ringing as he exited the alley. “There’s no way anyone could have gotten in.” 

The redcaps thanked him, drunk on beer and power, and their procession moved on. In the dim light Karé clenched a fist in triumph. 

“Good old Finn!” one of the redcaps said outside. “Always up for the grunt work.” 

“I bet he likes it,” said another. “You enjoy it, don’t you Finn?” 

“For sure, yeah.” Finn was all grinning, easygoing charm. “Get the next one for you, too.” 

Tears poured down Rey’s face, this time from a mix of emotions she couldn’t name. She muffled her mouth against BeeBee’s fur, and it was probably a good sign that the dog wriggled weakly as though to push her away. 

A phone buzzed and Rose took hers out, a rectangle of light in the dimness. “They’re close! Where should we meet them?” 

“Tell them to come here as quietly as they can manage it.” As she spoke Paige looked to Karé, who nodded agreement. “We can’t walk for long before we’re seen, and if it’s going to be a chase it’s better if we’re in the Falcon first.” 

Rose sent the text and everyone waited, leaning toward and even plastered to the door to listen. After a minute or two Rey heard tires treading toward them, down back streets instead of the main lane to University Gate. There was a call of challenge, and the car sped up instead of slowing down. Rey found herself drawn in by the hum of the engine, something she had not heard often but was somehow familiar. 

“Sounds like the Falcon’s been spotted,” said Jess. “We gotta be ready to board fast.” 

“On my signal.” Karé stood by the door, ready to open it. 

The car pulled to a stop outside, followed by approaching footfalls and shouts. 

“Now!” Karé threw the door open and they ran out at the waiting car, its engine still running with that happy purr. Rey took in the defined powder-blue body, grille shape, and chrome in the short time as she ducked out the shop door and was shoved into a back seat. _A ’00 model Falcon!_ she thought, excitement rising to meet the terror already pumping through her. 

The rest of their group barreled in after her, squeezing in with Rose in Jess’s lap and Paige crumpling herself onto the floor. Karé got in last and slammed the door in a redcap’s face. The car took off before he could attempt to open the door. 

“Hang on!” The elderly man behind the wheel gunned the engine, and nicked two red hats running toward them as the car careened out of the alley. 

A shot rang out, and everyone in the back cringed down screaming. The driver did not react much more than if he had heard a bell ring, and the hairy man next to him whose bulk filled the passenger seat and whose head touched the ceiling pulled out—wait, was that an actual shotgun? 

While Rey peered up, hunched down over BeeBee and shielding her head with her hands, the hairy man rolled down the window leaned out to aim backward. The crack of the retort sent a jolt through Rey’s body, and she felt it reverberate through her seatmates, too. She reached out at random and found a hand, which turned out to be Paige’s sitting at her feet. They held on tightly while the car slid and skidded over the road, cars now replacing the foot pursuit. 

One pursuing car slammed into their flank, but the Falcon shot ahead with a scrape of metal and metal, leaving the other car to eat her dust. 

Up ahead, on the exit to the main road, two cars blocked their way leaving only a foot of space between them. 

“Hang on!” The driver turned the steering wheel at a brutal angle that threw all the occupants to one side. 

“That’s impossible,” Rey breathed, as the Falcon climbed up to the pavement on either side of the lane and angled toward the space between the boot of the car on the left and the building behind it. 

“Never tell me the odds!” The driver turned the wheel again, throwing everyone in the other direction. 

Rey muffled a shriek as the wall of the building scraped the door she sat against, the brick scrolling past cheek-to-cheek with her window. The car they were trying to pass, catching on, backed up trying to pin the Falcon to the wall. The Falcon was already out most of the way, though, and was through with a crunch of fenders while Rey cringed at the damage to the beautiful car. 

They sped toward the thoroughfare, the women cheering in the back while the hairy shotgun man gave a roar of triumph. 

“Good work, old girl.” The driver patted the dashboard. 

“You’re Han Solo.” The words burst out of Rey, irrepressible. “The legendary racer with the Millennium model Falcon!” 

Also, it was rumored, a cross-border smuggler and a getaway driver when he had fallen on tough times, but she wasn’t sure if that was polite to mention to a man who had just driven them to safety. 

“I was.” Han put another burst of speed into the car. 

BeeBee stirred again and raised her head to give a short bark, as though in agreement. 

“Beebs!” Rose bent down to meet the dog’s eyes. “Welcome back, bitch!” 

“So where’re you taking us, Han?” Jess unwrapped one arm from around her girlfriend’s waist to offer a hand to BeeBee, which the dog gave a weak lick. 

“To Maz’s. Even Hux is going to think twice before messing with her.” 

* * *

“So what’s wrong with the dog?” Rey watched Han Solo brace himself as he asked the question, as though he expected the answer. BeeBee, now snuggled in Paige’s arms, licked at the water bottle whose contents Karé was dribbling past her snout. 

Jessika shrugged. “Your son wanted to add animal cruelty to his rap sheet.” 

Han seemed to visibly age at the answer, the lines on his face to grow deeper and his eyes more shadowed. While Rey was trying to process this information, Han turned back to the engine and his quite literal shotgun rider. “How does she look, Chewie?” 

They were by the side of the road, where the poor Falcon’s engine had given out minutes after they had driven out to the thoroughfare. The redcaps had fallen back, probably unwilling to be seen on the open road where people could see, not to mention non-campus police. 

Chewbacca grunted from where he was bent over the engine, a wrench in one hand, with Rose crowding him for elbow space and peppering him with questions. Jessika stood behind Rose, suggesting dangerous and possibly illegal modifications. 

Rey itched to get in there in the Falcon’s innards herself, but now that BeeBee was with friends and taken care of she knew what she had to do. 

“I’m going back,” she told the others. 

“What?” Rose managed to tear her gaze away from the engine long enough to stare, while Paige’s arms slackened around BeeBee and she managed to catch the yelping dog before dropping her. 

“That mob might realize by now what Finn did. I’ve been in and out with them before,” Rey touched her own bag, feeling the outline of the detested hat, “and if I can do anything to help him, and maybe Poe and Snap… I have to try.” 

Karé nodded with understanding. “I want to go with you.” 

“I know.” Rey reached out and squeezed her hand. “But I think you should catch up later, with backup.” 

Karé squeezed back. “If you see Snap before I do, tell him…” 

Chewie growled with his head under the Falcon’s hood, and Rey grinned. “Tell him that?” 

Karé laughed. “Perfect.” 

“Oh, and I have something for everyone.” Rey took out her phone and tapped their contacts into a group text before she attached the video. 

“What is it?” Jess took out her own phone when it gave a little vibration. 

“Evidence, from one of Kylo Ren’s fans. It’s not easy to watch, but it shows what he did to Poe.” Rey shuddered at the memory. “Download it if you’ve got the data, I want there to be backups.” 

“Just in case?” Paige met her eyes. 

“Just in case. I mean, phones can get lost or broken right?” Rey tried to laugh even though her heart was pounding and her mouth had gone dry. 

_Be brave,_ she told herself while she hugged her friends one by one. _For them._ She may be just the pretzel girl but she could do this much, be the harmless, giggling girl no one gave a second look at. 

Last of all she looked back at the Falcon as she left. _Another time, beautiful lady,_ she promised herself. That was another reason to come back safely, so she could join in the repairs and talk shop with Rose, Jess, Chewbacca and _the_ Han Solo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 2000 Falcon in this chapter has little resemblance to the Ford (snerk) Australia Falcon which was actually coming out in 2000, but is closer to the North America Ford Falcons that were discontinued in 1970. I don't put it past Han and Chewie to totally revamp a mid-20th century vintage car in 2000 and call it a 2000 model, do you?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go up in flame and battle ensues.

When Rey first saw red in the sky as she approached the University through familiar alleyways, she assumed it was the redcaps having a congratulatory bonfire party. Then she started hearing shouts, frantic running feet, and fragmented conversations about things “blowing up” and “fucking wrecked.” She quickened her steps toward the University, her heart racing. 

She smelled and then choked on the smoke as the University gates came into sight. Flames leaped up behind the stately facades of the campus. She fumbled with her bag and took out the red hat to put it on, but none of the scurrying people around her spared her a glance anyway. 

As she walked past the gates against the flow of people who were mostly going the other way, she lost all sense of reality. The streaks of red against the black of night, the distant roar of the fire, the screams and raised voices… none of what had happened here could be real, yet it was. 

_Poe and the others are in there._ The thought hit her like a bucket of ice. _Finn is in there._ Before she knew it she was running, scanning the thinning crowd as she went. 

She spotted familiar faces, though not the ones she was looking for. “Karen!” she called. “Susan!” 

The two women were walking together, dazed. Karen—or was it Susan?—was crying and being supported by the other. 

“Are you all right?” Rey’s stomach knotted with genuine fear for them, even as sour disgust rose up in her throat. 

“Something blew up-“ Karen sobbed. 

“Are you hurt?” Rey put a hand on the crying woman’s shoulder. “Do you know where the fire started?” 

“It was the campus police station.” Susan dabbed at her eyes. “We were just hoping to get a look at Ben, maybe a picture, and…” 

Rey felt herself go cold all over. Poe and Snap were at the police station. Finn might be there. 

“Who was in there?” She grabbed Susan’s shoulders, prompting a cry from the woman. “Was anyone hurt, or- or-” 

“We don’t know! We ran as soon as it blew.” Susan broke away from her and clung to Karen. 

Rey took a breath to calm herself. “Sorry. Thanks. You two get far away from the school.” 

_The police station._ Her surroundings seemed to gently float before they settled. _What do I tell Karé if… what do I tell everyone? _

She turned to walk deeper into the campus in the direction she had seen Poe and Snap being taken, knowing only that she had to find out. 

“Where are you going?” Susan called after her. “Come with us!” 

“I have something-” _someone_ “-to take care of.” 

“That’s so romantic.” Karen blew her nose, her eyes streaming. “That you’re going back for him.” 

Rey stared at her, mind racing: did they know about Finn? Did Kylo Ren suspect? 

“I wish I were brave enough to get back there for Ben,” said Susan. 

“Right.” Rey bit back a scream of laughter, and distracted herself with the sight of Karen’s bare head. “Karen, I think I mixed up my hat with yours-“ 

“Keep it.” Karen turned away with a sob before Rey could take off her stolen hat. “I don’t ever want to see it again. I never wanted any part in this.” 

“Come on, let’s go.” Susan put an arm around her friend and started toward the gate. 

Rey watched them go for a moment before she whipped around to run toward the campus police station, her heart pounding and fire dancing before her eyes. 

* * *

Of course, because she was a doofus and also had never been in this part of the campus before, she got lost on her way to the station and found herself on a footpath through a wooded hill. The orange light of the streetlights penetrated only erratically here, and she froze when she heard voices and footfalls ahead of her.

“No, this time I have to insist. You don’t save my life and keep calling me ‘Professor Dameron.’” 

“How about we get out of the woods first?” Hearing the familiar voice flooded Rey with warmth. 

“Yeah, the literal woods,” said Snap. “So shut up for two seconds already, Dameron.” 

Not daring to speak for fear she might burst into tears, Rey walked toward the voices. She rounded a bend in the path and saw them, Finn and Snap supporting an unsteady Poe between them as they walked down the path, the woods and sky behind them lit up by a burning building. 

Finn stared at her. “…Rey?” 

Rey covered her mouth with both hands and told herself it was the wind in her face that was making her eyes water. Suddenly she understood Karen and Susan’s infatuation, if not its object. 

“What are you doing here?” Seemingly forgetting that he was holding up an injured man, Finn let go and stepped toward her before Poe, unsupported, slumped with a cry of pain. Finn hurried back to sling Poe’s arm over his shoulders, whispering apologies. 

“I… I came back…” Her voice wobbling, Rey wrenched her gaze from him and gestured down the path the way she had come. Finn nodded. 

They started their stumbling way downhill through their woods. After a few moments Rey could no longer keep silent. “Is anyone going to tell me how the police station caught fire?” 

Snap sucked at his teeth. “'Caught' might not be the best word for it. It implies an accident, and well…” 

“Let’s just say storing bomb materials and gasoline in a closed space can have unexpected reactions with three desperate, cornered guys about to be mobbed.” Poe nudged Finn with a shoulder. “It’s all thanks to this guy.” 

Warmth crept up Rey’s chest and her face as she stole a glance at Finn. “Yeah, you helped us escape, too.” 

Finn gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I never liked those guys.” 

“Thank you.” Rey gave him a small smile, wishing she could hold him tight and feel his warmth, thinking she might die instantly of nerves if she tried. 

“Let’s thank the man properly once we’re out of here.” Poe paused, and he voice was quieter when he spoke again. “Speaking of which, has anyone seen BeeBee by any chance?” 

“Don’t worry, she’s safe and recovering. I left her with Karé and Jess and the others.” 

“They’re all right then?” Snap’s tone was a little too casual, as though to hide who he was particularly asking about. Like he could! 

“They are.” She put a hand to his arm to steer him from stepping on a rock. “Which reminds me, your wife said to tell you that you are-“ 

“Fire!” Finn was looking over his shoulder and above, and Rey followed his gaze to see the tree branches at the edge of the wood lighting up with flame, no doubt from the burning building. Already smoke and ashes drifted over to them. 

“Come on.” They quickened their steps, their way lit better now but the stakes so much higher. They neared the edge of the wood, enough they could see the streetlights between them, when Rey stopped in her tracks. 

A shadow stood in their path, holding a sword of flame. 

She blinked and the illusion was gone. It was a man in a long dark coat that swirled in the wind, the katana in his hand reflecting the fire around him. His face was covered in cuts with a shiny burn over one eye, and he held himself like he was in pain. 

_Ben Solo._ She felt like someone had poured cold water down her chest. She did not know how she was still standing, never mind how she took a step ahead as though to place herself between him and the men. 

“We’re not done here.” The younger Solo pointed his katana at them, the reflected fire flowing down its length. 

“Indeed not.” 

Rey looked half over her shoulder toward the voice, one eye still on Solo, to see Captain Phasma’s tall, elegant form striding from the smoking and flaming forest behind them. “I hope you understand the gravity of your actions here, Mr. Mando.” 

“So do you, I hope.” Finn turned to face her, with Snap taking on Poe’s weight. “How are you going to explain that bomb stockpile in your station?” 

“What stockpile?” Phasma lifted her hand, and the grey metal of a pistol glinted in her grip. “My station was attacked by domestic terrorists calling themselves the Student Resistance, and you have joined them.” 

“And you didn’t even give me a membership badge?” Finn glanced over at Poe. 

“Sorry pal, we were out of stock.” 

“I will count to three.” Phasma cocked the gun. Rey tensed herself and bent her knees to move, although she had no idea what she could do against live ammunition. 

Something teetered at the upper edge of her vision, and she shouted “Watch out!” before she tackled Finn on sheer instinct. She hit the firmness and scent of him headfirst; warm arms closed around her as they went tumbling across the ground, and then she found herself lying on his chest looking into his eyes. 

“Rey.” He looked past her to the spot they had just been standing in, and she followed his line of sight to see a bough the size of a truck’s fender burning on the forest floor. She couldn’t see Poe, Snap, or Phasma at all through the thickening smoke. “I think you saved my life.” 

It had to be the fire that was making her face so hot, the smoke that made it so hard to catch a breath. So why did she want to stay here forever listening to him call her by name? 

“We should… we should get out of here.” Her voice faltered. 

“Yeah.” He was breathing too hard, too, his beautiful eyes bright in the flames as they helped each other up, still staring at each other. 

“Get off her.” 

They swiveled to face the man with the sword they had forgotten in favor of the cop with the gun. Ben Solo approached them now, sword drawn back and ready to strike. 

“You.” He pointed at her with his free hand and snapped his fingers. “You’re coming with me.” 

_Fuck you,_ she wanted to tell him. She wanted to spit and bare her teeth at him and hiss like a cat. At other times she had done so, as a kid living on her own who’d had to show men like this she was more trouble than she was worth. Instead she stepped closer to Finn, afraid for herself but even more for him. 

“Don’t come any closer, Ren.” Finn got between them, wreathed in fire as though he had descended from the heavens clothed in wrath. No, another illusion: He had picked up a burning branch from the forest floor and was swinging it at Solo, making him swerve his lanky body away from the fire. 

“You ungrateful little cuck.” Solo leaped back and swung his sword around in a hand before bringing it around to attack. “You were a normie just like the rest of them.” 

“Rey, run!” Finn ran in, light and fire in his hand, and he ducked to dodge a katana swing while a scream caught in Rey’s throat. 

She ran after him, which was probably not the direction he meant, to find a branch or a rock or _something_ to help him with. She would block the katana with her own body if she had to. 

This time she heard it before she saw it, a branch groaning and breaking overhead. With her forward momentum she was almost too late when she shrank back and the branch crashed down before her feet, showering her with sparks and ash. 

She bent over, coughing, as she staggered back to get away from the heat. Flames flared up from the dead leaves and branches on the forest floor, and she couldn’t see anything through the fire-streaked smoke. 

“Finn,” she whispered to herself even as she choked. She heard gunfire and voices—were Poe and Snap dead? Was everyone? Would the nightmare man jump out of the darkness and drag her away? She looked around her as she kept so low she was almost crawling, her body doing its best to cough the smoke out and her lungs with it. 

One flame among the rest caught her eye as she went, and she had to look for a few seconds through streaming eyes before she realized it was moving in lines, horizontally as well as vertically, not like the flames all around which always reached up, up, up in a tortured dance. 

She started running toward it, her heart racing in a way that had nothing to do with its laboring against smoke and exertion, before she tripped and went sprawling in the smoking undergrowth. She started rising, swatting out sparks on her clothes, but her legs gave out and she exploded in coughs. She started crawling instead, down where there was a little less heat and smoke despite the catching debris. She couldn’t let Finn stand alone against that monster. 

The two men were in a small clearing, which explained how they were still standing and fighting, if barely. The flames and smoke were catching up here, too, the fire licking at the edges and reaching in. Finn’s burning branch was still the same length as though he wielded an unburning fire, though even her smoke-fogged brain knew it must be because he had picked up a new one. 

Ben Solo took a direct overhead swing and Finn, unable to get out of the way, blocked with his branch. Solo bore on with his weight and Finn was backed against a tree at the edge of the clearing, the fire of his own improvised weapon too close as he pushed back at the katana biting into the branch. 

Rey watched, her throat too dry to scream, as Solo deliberately levered the branch onto Finn’s shoulder, burning him. Finn screamed where she could not at the torture, and somehow in a burst of strength pushed his adversary off. He thrust the flaming end of the branch into Solo’s face, making him yelp in pain, but Solo swung their interlocked weapons around and tossed both away, the blade of the katana still buried in the burning branch. 

Finn was twisted around in the maneuver and was still staggering when Solo punched him in the face, knocking him down. Finn fell toward a rock and hit it with an impact that Rey felt in her own bones, then went limp and still. 

In the moment that Solo spent looking down at Finn, Rey had reached the edge of the clearing. She found her own branch with one end catching in flame and lifted it, the heat on her face. The point was to shove it in someone else’s face, of course. 

When Ren turned in the direction he had thrown his blade along with Finn’s branch, he found her standing before him and it. His eyes lit up with a light that made her shudder. 

“So you did come back.” He sauntered closer until she held the flaming branch out in warning. “I knew you were nothing like the rest of that rabble.” 

“I have to call an ambulance for him.” Behind him, Finn was too still and unmoving. “Just get out of here, leave us alone and I won’t tell anyone.” 

“And do you think anyone would believe you if did say something?” He stalked forward another step and she took one back, hating herself for it. “He’s a thug and a cop-killer. You’re nothing and no one.” 

She took a heaving breath, her heartbeats loud in her ears. A lifetime spent as less than nothing rushed in to drown her, knowing no one wanted her or loved her, being so utterly alone she might as well be in outer space. 

“But not to me.” She realized through the blur of her tears that he had thrust aside the burning branch. “You wanted to go to Republic University? Go with me and you’ll own a dozen universities before we’re done. You wanted a rowing champion? You can have a different athlete in your bed every night.” 

She flinched as he placed a hand on her shoulder, his grip painful and overbearing as though to press her into the earth. “You are more extraordinary than you know, a diamond in the dirt. And I am the one who will pluck you out, who will lift you up to shine-“ 

“And I’ll lay you out flat, you wanker!” She hardly recognized the snarling voice as her own, swinging the brand around and into his face. He ducked and sidestepped away, long limbs jangling. 

She thrust the fiery branch at him but he simply backed away, bending back to avoid her as necessary. Then he bent down and she realized, too late, that she had let him control the movements and he had swung back around to where his katana and Finn’s branch lay together. The blade came away easily from the disintegrating wood and Ren hefted it in a hand, grimacing at its heat. 

The smoke was now thick here, too, and the heat from the flickering flames settled into her skin. She swung at the gangly man, trying to drive him backward into the fire, but he swatted each blow away. 

When he did move in she did not catch it until too late, lulled to leaden dullness as she was by the effort of just staying upright and breathing the thick air. He struck the branch away with his sword and then, before she could bring it back around, strode forward, filling her sight with terrifying speed. 

She felt an oversized vise of a hand on her wrist, a sharp twist that made her gasp because she had no breath to scream, and her hand was empty of rough wood and raw heat. 

He pulled her arm to drag her away and she strained against him until she thought her arm would pop out of its socket. 

“Stupid female!” Reflected flames leaped in his eyes and his voice seemed one with the roar of the fire and dying wood. “Do you want to stay here and die?” 

Rey spat in his face, though her mouth was too dry to manage more than a few drops of spittle. _Better die than leave with you._ She hoped her eyes said it clearly enough, because every breath was a struggle and she wanted to save hers. Her hand went to the back of her belt, searching under the drape of her sweaty shirt. 

He yanked with all his strength and this time she did not fight him, but rather let the strength of his pull propel her forward. She held her free hand up high, grasping the hammer Rose had given her. 

She struck it down, aiming for the top his head, but he was too tall and drew back reflexively. The hammer, turning in her hand, scored down across his face leaving a furrow that welled with blood. 

“I’ve been wanting to do that since you first came to my stall, creep!” So she had the breath to speak, after all, even though the screaming left her hoarse and spots floated in her line of vision. 

Rey took a running leap to kick him in the knee and he wavered like a scarecrow in the wind, backward into the burning forest surrounding the clearing. 

Before he could try to jump out of the fire, slapping at the flames catching on his coat, she lunged forward with the hammer again, forcing him back another few steps. He teetered in place and waved his arms like ceiling fans before fell backward down a slope neither of them had seen. Burning trees crashed down before her eyes, making her turn away coughing and covering her mouth. She dropped the hammer, which was too heavy now to hold, never mind lift. 

Fighting to breathe, she stumbled back to where Finn lay. She collapsed on her way into the dirt and embers, and crawled the rest of the way. She listened for his breathing and felt for a heartbeat—weak, so weak, but both there. There was blood on the stone where he had hit his head and he needed to go to an ER, stat. 

She rummaged for her phone but couldn’t find it, her whole bag was gone. Murmuring an apology she started searching for his phone instead, in his jacket, his pants pockets. His had to be here, what were the chances they were both missing their fucking phones- 

Overwhelmed by coughing, Rey found herself lying on his chest. The world spun around her and faded at the same time. She had never felt so safe in living memory even though they were dying here, together. 

_Together._ She had to keep looking for his phone, or hers. She had to try and pull him to safety, but she could no longer move even on her own—and she would not go alone, she wouldn’t leave his side even for a second. She was tired of struggling and fighting to live, tired of being nothing and no one. She may be a useless piece of shit who was going to get Finn killed out of her own incompetence, but she would never be alone again and neither would he. 

“I’m so sorry, Finn,” she sobbed into his chest, using the last of her breath to cry over a boy who could not hear her, Finn who she would never have the time to know and already adored. 

Ash and ember fell softly around them like a dark snow. Near and far, stately old trees crashed to their fiery deaths with thudding that sounded like heartbeats. She said good-bye to it all, to her friends, but not to Finn because she would never part with him again. 

Light stabbed her eyes and she wondered if this was the beginning of burning to death. She had thought the smoke would get her first. There were footfalls and familiar, loved voices. Was her dying brain pulling up her memories in her last moments? 

Through the fog she realized she was being pulled away from Finn, and she screamed without sound with breath she no longer had. Then something like a big plastic bowl was shoved over her face and she struggled, _no no no please,_ before she gulped in the sweetest air she had tasted in her life and went limp with relief. 

She looked to one side to see Finn wearing an oxygen mask too, being lifted onto a stretcher. She turned her eyes to see Chewbacca’s bearded face above her, growling something reassuring, and she knew she was among friends and safe. Or maybe she had literally died and gone to heaven, even if the greeting was hairier than expected. Either was fine. 

Rey let go of it all, letting her consciousness creep into a corner of her battered, oxygen-deprived brain to sleep. Finn’s face was the last sight to fade away and stayed with her in the dark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew settle into their new circumstances; Finn and Rey reunite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the missing member of Black Squadron: Don't worry, L'ulo isn't dead! Poe's friend and mentor is called L'ula in this continuity and he couldn't appear because he's in a spot of legal trouble in his home country.

“I can’t, I’d die!” Rey cowered down, avoiding the swiping hands that would take her away to certain doom and humiliation. 

“Well you’re boring the crap out of me.” Jessika grabbed the back of Rey’s shirt and pulled her toward the door. “You can’t moon and pine forever, you have to talk to this dude.” 

“Jess! Don’t scare her.” Rose patted Jess’s arm, making her let go, before she turned to Rey. “Rey, you’ve talked to Finn before.” 

“She’s done a lot more than talk.” Jess smirked, and Rey felt a blush flare in her face. 

Rose went on as though Jess had not spoken: “We’ve all talked to him and we told him you’re fine, but he’s obviously wondering. He wants to see you.” 

“I can’t.” Rey covered her face, which had grown hot at the very suggestion. How did she walk up to the bed of a man she’d been about to die with, lying on top of him like they were some kind of… “He must think I’m the biggest weirdo who ever lived.” 

“He does not. Paige, a little help here?” 

Rose turned to her sister, who had taken over a window alcove and was looking out the window where footpaths wound between the lake and surrounding woods. Karé and Snap walked hand in hand along the lake, the slanting sun holding them in a golden embrace. 

“Oh, Pae-Pae.” Rose went to her sister and hugged her from behind, kissing the top of her head. Paige reached up to ruffle her little sister’s hair, and they watched the couple go for a second before Rose added: “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to ask if Karé has sisters.” 

Without a word Paige dragged Rose’s head down for a headlock. Soon Rose had tapped out and was sprawled in the alcove seat next to her sister, panting and grumbling. 

“We could use a walk, too.” Jess went to help Rose up. “At least outside you’ll have room to run when your big mouth gets you in trouble.” 

They filed out the door of the common room that adjoined their bedrooms, down the sweeping stairs with carved bannisters that fascinated Rey though she had been living here nearly a week since the night Republic University went up in flames. Well, technically it was the forest that had caught fire, but whenever Rey thought of that night it was the flames she saw first in her mind. 

The four of them walked together down one of the lakeside paths, in the opposite direction as the one Karé and Snap had gone, Rey noticed. Stone and brick buildings in a mix of styles appeared between the breaks in the trees before being hidden again when they walked on. She didn’t know what most of them were for other than the hospital she had been treated at and the guest house she now lived in, and she wondered if she would stay long enough to find out even as her heartbeat quickened at the beauty of this place. 

As though her thoughts about the compound had summoned its owner, she looked up to see two figures walking toward them on the path: Chancellor… or rather Dr. Organa, looking very different from her University Chancellor days in a vest and pants, and the less-familiar but unmistakable form of Maz Kanata dressed similarly with a blue bandana over her dark curls that Rey privately thought made her look like a pirate. 

“Oh shit, can we avoid her?” Jess looked to her left and then to her right, as though considering plunging into the trees or the lake. 

“Why would we avoid her?” Rose gripped her by a sleeve as though to stop her from doing either. 

“She runs the school we go to, it’s weird!” Jess lowered her voice to a whisper as the distance between them and the other two women closed. 

“None of us goes there anymore, including her.” Rose tightened her grip on her girlfriend’s sleeve and marched her forward as Dr. Organa greeted them. “I swear, sometimes I don’t even know why I bother with your weird ass…” 

“How are you settling in?” Dr. Organa asked when they had all stopped to talk. “Is everything comfortable?” 

Rose looked to Paige, who had gone quiet and was looking down at the ground, before she smiled and answered: “Oh, everything’s great. I can’t thank you enough for taking us in, Ms. Kanata.” 

“‘Maz’ will do.” The woman fixed them all with a gaze that was direct and gripping even through her oversized round spectacles. “The streets are no longer safe with those hooligans running around, and events that started at Republic University will not end there.” 

Rey was reminded that there was no confirmation of Kylo Ren’s death, and that Hux’s Maserati had been seen speeding away from the woods in the confusion. The thought was a grim one that darkened the sunlit day, but she had to face the fact that this situation was anything but over. 

Paige, Rey noticed, kept looking in Maz’s direction before she caught herself and looked away. Rey sympathized—the pirate-on-a-safari getup did nothing to take away from Maz’s ethereal beauty with her exquisitely proportioned face and clear, dark eyes. She was also shockingly young for a woman who owned and ran this compound just outside the city. 

“I’m just worried that our being here will make you a target,” said Dr. Organa. Rey had the sense that this was a continuation of the conversation the two of them had been having between running into the group of younger women. 

“We are all targets as long as that corrupt gang are out there. At least this way we have strength in numbers.” Maz looked thoughtful, her eyes huge behind her glasses. “Speaking of numbers, I could use some help tracking and providing for the protestors we’ve taken in.” 

Rey raised her hand, her heart pounding even as she did it. “Paige would be great at that. She has a real- a real knack for numbers.” 

Paige shot her a look that was a mix of _why would you do this to me_ and _you will die by my hand,_ which Rey did her best to ignore. 

Dr. Organa nodded, smiling. “I’m sure you will find Paige very reliable, Maz. She was in charge of logistics for the Student Resistance and did an excellent job.” 

“Why don’t you come to my office when you have a moment, then?” Maz smiled at Paige, and Rey could all but feel the heat of the blush emanating from her. 

Paige ducked her head and muttered something that was either a agreement or a swear word. 

“She’ll be there, I’ll make sure of it!” Rose linked her arm through her sister’s and pulled her along. “We’ve taken up enough of your time, see you soon!” 

Dr. Organa smiled and nodded at them as she resumed her walk alongside Maz, and Rey’s group went on their own way. 

“I ought to kick all your asses,” Paige said as soon as they were out of earshot. 

“I didn’t do anything.” Jess raised her hands. “This time.” 

“You were in on it with your- your telepathic girlfriend senses, I don’t know.” Paige kicked a stone down the path, her face now bright pink. 

Rose smiled sunnily. “You’d know, wouldn’t you, if you’d actually had a girlfriend.” 

Just as Jess had said, there was room outdoors for Rose to run away. Jess and Rey watched while Paige chased Rose along the lakeshore, shouting something about no one ever finding her body. 

“Sisters, huh?” Jess grinned. 

“Yeah.” Rey smiled back. Here with the wind blowing through her hair and the lake lapping at the shores, with the city a violent mass behind her and her friends’ laughter in the air, she was filled up inside as she never had been before. 

Rose came running back down the path, passed Rey in a blur and grabbed her shoulders from behind. Rey had to flail her arms to balance herself. 

“Safe zone! Safe zone!” Rose ducked behind Rey while Paige came stomping down the path after her. 

“Oh, just come on.” Paige waved a hand and turned back around. “Let’s get this walk over with.” 

So she could get to Maz’s office sooner? Rey wondered, and could tell the same thought was on Jess and Rose’s minds even though none of them said anything. 

“I can hear you!” Paige said without turning around, and Rey dissolved in peals of laughter along with the other two. They followed Paige, still giggling. 

After they spent a few more minutes walking, just enjoying the view and each others’ company, the path branched off through a break in the trees to a brick building up a hill, one of the few Rey knew here. 

Paige turned to Rey with a gleam in her eye. “This is your stop.” 

“This is the hospital.” Rey realized too late the trap she had fallen into. 

“I mean, we can always make a legitimate reason for you to go.” Jess cracked her knuckles in what Rey sincerely hoped was a joking way. 

While Rey looked from her friends to the building up the hill, torn, Paige came to stand before her. 

“Rey. Don’t let yourself wonder what might have happened if you’d said something. Don’t be like me.” 

Rey nodded and cleared her dry throat to speak. “Thank you.” 

Rose put an arm around Jess’s waist and raised a thumb at Rey as she walked away. Rey returned what she was sure was a tremulous smile. 

Left alone, Rey sighed and turned up the road to the hill. A part of her still wanted to run away and hide, but she just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as she climbed. It was how she had gotten here, a place she couldn’t have imagined only weeks ago, and maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to try again. 

* * *

A doctor Rey had met during her own stay in the hospital building guided her up to Finn’s floor. Laughter and voices drifted from a half-open door near the end of the hall, and Rey’s heart leapt at Finn’s rumbly-smooth tones. Her friends had told her more than once he was all right, but hearing him talk and laugh made it easier to believe. 

What would it be like to see him? 

She almost turned around and walked away at the thought, overwhelmed with sensations and feelings she was not sure she would ever be ready to face, but the doctor was already speaking to her. 

“He has a prior visitor, I’m afraid. He has a lot of those. If you’d like to wait in the lounge down the hall-“ 

“Oh, no, no. I’ll just wait for them to finish. Please, I’m fine here.” 

After the doctor left Rey stood pondering her escape, even as she tingled to the tips of her fingers and toes at the thought of seeing and talking to Finn again. 

A third sound joined the talking voices, a little _yip_ that Rey recognized at once. Her heart pounded again, this time with uncomplicated joy. 

From inside the room Poe called “BeeBee!” The dog was already out the door, however, and running down the hallway toward Rey, her curled tail a blur of excitement. 

The little dog jumped into Rey’s waiting arms, a bundle of fur and happiness, and Rey gave her a hug and rubbed her face against the white-and-orange fur before receiving doggie kisses all over her face. 

“Rey, it’s so good to see you!” Poe jogged out of the room and gave Rey a hug with BeeBee squished in the middle before he held her at arm’s length, his handsome face creased with smiles despite the plasters over his stitches and the still-fading bruises. “It’s been a crazy week, we didn’t get to catch up! Are you feeling okay?” 

Rey found herself tearing up in spite of himself. Was he asking her this after he had been brutally beaten, imprisoned, and shot at? “Oh, I’m very good! I’m in outpatient treatment and should be good as new. But what about you?“ 

She looked behind Poe at the sound of footfalls, and the words dried from her throat while her thoughts fell silent. 

Poe lifted BeeBee from her unresisting arms. “We… have an appointment… with uh… BeeBee’s vet.” BeeBee growled. “Better hurry, see you around!” 

Rey did not remember what she had said to Poe in parting, or if she had said anything at all. That was rude of her. Somehow, though, facing Finn standing in the hallway in his white hospital pajamas, it didn’t seem to matter. 

Finn looked a little thinner and paler and his head was bandaged where he had hit his head. He was alive and whole and _here,_ though, and there was a light in his eyes as he looked as fixedly at her as she was at him. 

She kept thinking of what to say, the words that would express even a fraction of what she was feeling and what they had been through. It was what she had been doing for the past week, preparing herself to face him. Every time she found herself flooded with memories of the first time she met his eyes, the first time he smiled, the doors rattling in the alley, Finn swinging a brand to defend her while the world burned, the feel of his chest rising and falling against her cheek as her entire body shook with sobs. 

Rey didn’t know which one of them had started first but he was walking down the hallway toward her and she was walking to meet him, still unable to believe any of this was real. 

She reached for him and he was there, his firm and broad shoulders against her hands, the smell of hospital soap mixed with his own distinctive sweetness hitting her, his hands on her shoulder and her back, the look in his eyes making her tremble. 

Then his body was against hers as they pulled each other into their arms and she tightened her arms around him, laughing and crying at the same time. They rocked side by side and pushed to get closer as though they had known each other for a lifetime and had been parted for another. 

She put her forehead to his shoulder, breathing him in, holding onto the reality of him as an anchor to stay in the moment and not float away into her own mind as she had for so much of her life. This was a reality worth staying in. 

Rey lifted her hand to touch Finn’s face and brush his lips with her fingertips, still half-believing this was a dream because that was the only way she could have worked up the courage. Not trusting her voice, she looked into his eyes with an unspoken question. He answered it as silently when he stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, the tenderest touch she had ever known. 

They leaned toward each other at the same time and their lips met. Rey’s eyes fluttered closed, and in the kiss she tasted the cinnamon sugar pretzel she had made for him and would eat from time to time just to try and capture that moment, the tears and the terror and ash and blood that had brought them to this moment. She felt Finn’s warmth, both his softness and the strength behind it and the fierceness of his want. 

They parted and looked into each others’ eyes, their movements gentle but both breathing hard like they had just come out of a storm. Trembling, she leaned against the safety of his chest, while he leaned his face against her head and kissed the top of it 

At that moment she did think of something to say, the thing that had been missing all this time. It was a start, she hoped, a proper start at last for the tomorrows that stretched ahead of them in all their beautiful uncertainty. 

“I never introduced myself.” She drew back to look at him. “I’m Rey.” 

He chuckled and gave her a lopsided smile, tears in his eyes. “Good to meet you. I’m Finn.”


End file.
